Nintendo and Xbox Sign 10-Year Call of Duty Contract

Microsoft — the owners of Xbox — has announced it has signed a 10-year contract with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo platforms. This deal was first announced in December, but now there’s an actual binding contract in place. According to Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, this 10-year commitment is to bring the first-person shooter series to Nintendo platforms the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity. When this deal will begin, is not specifed, but it can’t be until the Activision-Blizzard acquisition is complete, which is currently looking a bit iffy.

“Microsoft and Nintendo have now negotiated and signed a binding 10-year legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players – the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity – so they can experience Call of Duty just as Xbox and PlayStation gamers enjoy Call of Duty. We are committed to providing long-term equal access to Call of Duty to other gaming platforms, bringing more choice to more players and more competition to the gaming market.”

“We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers,” writes Smith of the news. “This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms.”

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Why is this deal happening now? Well, it’s impossible to ignore that this is happening as the acquisition is being met with substantial scrutiny and pushback from regulators all over the world, especially in the United States in Europe, as PlayStation, Google, and more push hard against the deal in an attempt to get it to collapse. As you may know, a similar deal has been offered to PlayStation, but so far it hasn’t responded to the offer and likely won’t as it attempts to thwart the deal it says is anti-consumer and anti-competitive. 

For now, Nintendo has not issued a statement in conjunction with this one from Smith and Microsoft. If this changes, we will be sure to update the story accordingly. In the meantime, be sure to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think. Do you think this deal will go through? What do you think about the prospect of playing Call of Duty on Nintendo devices?